elhenry

Been on the Anthem 3 times and the Quantum once and the concierge never checked my tier status . Once I scan my seapass to enter the DL we simply try to find a decent seat to enjoy our appetizers and drink. Most of the times we wind up in the overflow area of the Music Box.

I know that it varies from concierge to concierge and sailing to sailing but Leroy was not trifling on Aug. 4:D when I was there, he asked every single person to show their card. He got “my mother/father; my cabinmate; my kid isn’t using their card” and he didn’t let anyone in without the D. The D lounge was mobbed.

The concierge lounge, OTOH, was empty and had two entrances. Would have been a better place to try that:p

And here when I arrived in Bermuda last week I thought they changed the name of Kings Wharf:')

Also probably why the touristy shops seemed a lot farther away than I remembered 11 years ago...

Just a friendly heads up for dinosaurs like me... my trusty 4S and my grandfathered plan were not eligible for Verizon Travel Pass on my 8/4 Bermuda sailing. If I had really wanted to call someone, I could have used Facebook Messenger with Voom, which I did have, but email did me fine.....

I did not see any signs for Suite access for shows on the 8/4 sailing of the Anthem, but we never got there early enough for it to make a difference. ;)

My card was purple. Is this brand brand new or super special suites? : )

Also, FWIW, the concierge in the Diamond lounge was not letting in friends, cabin mates, kid brothers... no D, no entry.

We just sailed the Anthem out of Bayonne, (Aug. 4) and I would echo the recommendations for larger RCCL ships. We were seven, from age 15 to age 60, and there was always something for someone of every age to do. The teens, in particular, loved the IFly, FlowRider and Bumper Cars, and even night time activities like the "Silent Disco" appealed to all ages.

you can go to a beach at every port in the Caribbean if you want. ;) I might choose one with the private islands, as that guarantees at least one port with ease of access to a beach.

Great video for those who wonder what the port is like.

 

If only it was always that quick . .. we arrived last Thursday and waited in a long line to get to the baggage drop off. But that was around 11:30am.

I also arrived at 11:15 on Aug. 4 for the Anthem and waited 35 minutes to get to the porter.

I texted other members of my party, arriving separately, to expect a wait and they sailed right through (hahahah :D). We were told later that the earlier delay was due to thunderstorms when they stop the porter service. Don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what we heard......

Prizes: On Anthem last week, we had a new one for me: “North Star bags”, really lightweight plastic bags crunched into another bag. As well as the usual round of keychains, pens and cheesy medals.

Composition: really depends on the staff member leading it. I heard 2 to 4, I heard no more than six, and none of it made any difference. There were seven in our cruising group and sometimes we all showed up, and no one cared. We’re not fighting each other over plastic keychains:p

I was wondering why we had no progressive trivia, and now I understand, it was a five night cruise with two days in port, so not really worth it.

Music: plenty of music trivia on my cruise. We *would* have won 70s disco, but the tie breaker was a dance off. I wasn’t twerking strangers for a plastic key chain:') we did win Queen trivia because of my 17 year old niece, who got obscure songs because some singer she follows on IG covers them. Moral of the story: make sure your whole team attends!

Just FYI....The Suites Lounge is a different venue than the Concierge Lounge. Larger ships starting to tear out the CLs in favor of putting in the Suites Lounge (For GS cabins and above plus Pinnacles only...D+ no longer have access unless in a full suite).

I'm so confused (not surprising for me);p

The Anthem had two lounges. One was 12 aft for Suites. I was in a suite, so that is where I went. I don't know if they allowed Diamond, D+ or Pinnacle. Should I call that a suite lounge?

The other was next to the Theatre and called a Diamond lounge, I think, so I'm pretty sure that was just for Diamonds and above. Is that right?

The last time I sailed RCCL was over seven years ago on the Grandeur and I think there was only one lounge. We were in a suite then as well, so we used the lounge and called it a Concierge lounge. Was that a lounge for both suites and Diamonds that no longer exists?

I'm too old for this:D

We were just off of the Anthem and we are D+.the problem with the D+ lounge was that it was on deck 12 AFT,it is the longest we ever had to walk to get to a lounge.The lounge itself was very nice,but being to FAR aft no one was going there.The most we seen in there was 10 members.The room hold maybe 50-60 members.The one night the Captain came in and ask the concierge where everyone was,her answer was that it is so out of the way they don't come.The D lounge was on deck 5 next to the theater and easy to get to.

We just got off the Anthem on Aug. 9 and loved the (suite) concierge lounge. It was aft on Deck 12, but not such a bad way to walk off the meals. Our party of seven was there every night. The servers were great, and the appetizers surprisingly good. We certainly ate enough of them:p

At the beginning of the cruise, there weren't many others in the lounge, and no parties as large as ours, but the last two nights it filled up with about 30 people (it was only a five night cruise).

Our concierge, however, was not a "her" but a "his", Ricardo Mock. The concierge for Diamond was also a he, Leroy D'Souza.

I went to the Diamond lounge once; I am not Diamond, but some of my companions were. I made it clear to the Concierge that I was just there with them while they transacted business and left within five minutes. It seemed smaller and way more crowded. The Diamond/Suite cruisers in my group always went to the Suite lounge for pre-dinner drinks and conversation. Far more relaxing.

Thanks for the review! Can you tell me what day the lobster was served in the main dining rooms? Trying to figure out what days to eat in the specialty restaurants.

I was on this cruise and lobster night was Tuesday, but this is a five day cruise.

I will put here that I second the recommendation for Jamie's. Having grown up in Philly, I know some pretty awesome Italian restaurants. Jamie's was even more awesome, well worth the extra $$$$. :cool:

Off the Anthem and reporting back on Quinton Bean, with whom we toured on Aug. 6.

He was delightful. Quinton has been a tour guide for 48 years and is full of love for his home island, and was able to answer every question we had and ones we didn't know we had. As has also been mentioned, I think he knows personally every single person on the island.

We wanted a tour of the highlights, and we saw Fort Scaur, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, Hamilton, St. George's, with stops at scenic outposts along the way. Lunch at a local spot right next to the ocean with stale bread to feed the fish and codcakes and hoppin' john to feed ourselves. Although we wanted to see historical and scenic spots, Quinton will take you to what you want to see, aquarium, caves, whatever. On our way back to the ship, he stopped a three different beaches so we could determine where we might want to go the next day.

The cost was $70 an hour for seven people, on riding up front in a passenger van. The vehicle was comfortable and well air conditioned.

Highly recommended.

Just off the Anthem today.

I can confirm that Ricardo Mock is the concierge for the Suite Lounge. Leroy D’Souza was the concierge for the Diamond Lounge. I saw them with my own eyes :-)

I did ask Quinton if the vehicle could hold seven, and as Charles said, our seventh will ride shotgun. That is good because I also asked if the vehicle could handle a group with a larger man, and that is who will ride shotgun.

Boarding tomorrow; woot!:ship::)

I emailed Quinton Bean last night and he responded first thing this morning. We are happily booked with him in a few weeks! We wanted an 8:30am start time and he was able to accommodate that. He also charged the government rate of $70 an hour (5 people). Looking forward to it!

We have Quinton reserved for this Monday, August 6, for six hours for seven people. Looking forward to it as well, and will come back to this thread to let everyone know how it went.

Bermuda bound in two days:D:ship:

My husband and I had a fantastic all-day, private taxi tour last Wednesday (July 25th) with Quinton Bean, who was recommended on this Board, I believe. He charges the standard $50/hr rate, and of course we tipped him above that, and also payed for his lunch.

 

Quinton has been a taxi tour guide for quite a long time. He knows everyone and everyone seems to know him! We told him that we were particularly interested in Bermuda's history and natural beauty, and he shared a great deal of knowledge with us. He knew every bird, tree and flower we asked about, and also took us on great tours of two forts and 3 churches. We stopped at a lunch spot that seemed to be just for the locals and the fish sandwich was great. He will pick you up anywhere - we were on a cruise so he came right to the ship to pick us up.

 

You can book him via email, as we did. His address is quianreu@logic.bm. Be patient - it might take him a few days to get back to you, but he will. Enjoy Bermuda!

This is so good to hear; we have reservations with Quinton for August 6, based on this Board, and we are looking forward to it! As we are seven people, we have reserved at the $70 an hour rate.

We are in a suite on the Anthem's 8/4/2018 sailing and we received an email from Ricardo Mock saying he would be our concierge. He answered a subsequent inquiry. I don't know if he is currently the concierge, but it appears that he will at least be back from vacation on 8/4.

Thank you; boarding on Aug. 4 and this is just what we were looking for:cool:

Here is an example of how NCL treated another death at sea. Although the circumstances are not the same, it seems to me that NCL "hand-held" this family throughout the entire ordeal and made them feel acknowledged and supported (which I greatly applaud!) I hope the disparity in treatment is not related to the fact that this other family was travelling in an Owner's Suite.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=33296024&postcount=1

 

Again, what I took away from the original post is that the OP felt alone and unsupported, not that they disputed the reality of medical bills, etc.

I am the OP from the quoted post. NCL was certainly more than caring in our circumstance, but I would hope that it was not due to the cabin (FWIW, I was in the "normal" adjoining one). Certainly, other than the butler, everyone who reached out to us had no reason to do so because of the cabin.

My heart goes out to the OP, and to be alone in that circumstance, rather than to be with other friends and family, would indeed be crushing. My sympathies on your loss.

I am not sure how much NCL could have done about the fact that one would be alone for the remainder of the cruise. They were extraordinarily helpful to us through most of the "process", but of course the staff was not with us for most of the time we remained on this ship; for that we had each other.

Also, I must echo the other posters who said that to debark in Bermuda under those circumstances would have made a tragic situation worse. I also had a coworker whose father died while on vacation in Italy (remarkable that our small office had two members of the same sad club). It took weeks and weeks and weeks to bring his remains home. I remain grateful that the next port of call for my father was an American one.

And the takeaway is indeed, insurance. My parents were older at the time my father died, but we started cruising when I was 29 and in peak health, and I still signed up for insurance.

Again, OP, I am very sorry for your loss.

Thank you again to the posters for your words of sympathy on my OP. Although it has been five years, the kind expressions are always appreciated.

Lillulu, I am glad to hear that your partner is doing well and recovering, and so sorry to hear about your trials. I know how scary an illness on a cruise can be. I also know, and am grateful for, the fact that if this had to happen to us, it did happen where an American port was the next port of call. I know how much easier, not only the language, but having an actual ships agent who worked for an American company and saw the Jewel every week, smoothed the process.

We had travel insurance, and we knew that we would need to incur the costs first, and then be reimbursed by the insurance company. We had no problem with unauthorized charges. In what is now an amusing note, they did not reimburse us for the two days of the cruise that dad was with us. Nor would we expect them to.

And on an even better note, for the first time since "Mom's last cruise" to Hawaii, I will be cruising again next year. Sadly, not on NCL, but with the extended family. And we will raise a glass to Mom and Dad.:cool:

Hello everyone. Yes, it has been awhile since I have visited the forum, but I was emailed notices of the renewed postings in the thread.

Thank you everyone who has recently posted for your kind words; they are greatly appreciated. Yes, it was five years ago, but as everyone knows, you always miss your loved one, even if the loss was not recent.

In the intervening years, my mother has also passed on, although not at sea. Three months before she died, she traveled with all her children on the POA, fulfilling her lifelong dream of seeing Hawaii. I like to think that she and Dad are now sitting on the balcony together again looking at the sunset from another direction.

last year, we sailed with a port side balcony and the NaPali coast was stunning. Slower sailby on port than on starboard.

We did have a lava sailby on starboard, but not nearly so close or beautiful as this:

I was on the POA in July 2013, I took my iPad (first generation), and at the time I was on the AT&T with 3G data plan.

We had a balcony, and the AT&T data plan worked absolutely fine in port on the balcony. In fact, it worked for a little bit going out to sea. Inside the cabin, the reception was iffy. It had nothing to do with a nearby wifi signal, but whether the iPad was positioned where it could capture the AT&T signal.

happy cruising,

el henry

I am trying to remember, and I don't think there were on BA cabins on deck 11. Of course, the buffet was on the same deck; so I never would have used the coffee maker.

OK, my last post as I don't want to monopolize this thread. :) I have posted on Chris Elliott's Facebook page (called "Elliott"; I needed to 'like' it). We will see what happens.

If the cruise is not sold out the cruiseline is not losing any money. Plain and simple. They have chosen take a hardline on this and it is just short-minded. They think it will make more money by selling insurance. It is their MO across the board on several policy fronts. It amazes me to what degree some on here will go to defend these actions.

 

As the article states most of the other cruiselines will work something out in such an instance. This type of thing seems to happen way too often with NCL. Go to a top-end resort and try to ask for something where they say no. Any reasonable request is granted. Resort employees are taught how not to say no. The list goes on. They don't nickle and dime you and then hold you to every minor detail on page 34 of your agreement. Yes they can but it is a hard way to keep loyal guests who know better.

 

Their son died. If I was a stockholder I would want management to understand that empathy goes a long way. I would want management to have enough common sense to think how does this make us look if it was on the front page of the Washington Post.

ACCMiller, I don't think you are reading our posts. My father died. On board the Jewel. And NCL's empathy indeed went a very long way, and we sailed NCL the next year. If that is your standard, you should have no trouble choosing NCL.